2007-07-15

Throughout Japan there are a number of what are called "ramen theme parks". These theme parks are not outdoor affairs with clowns, balloons and roller coasters but rather they are inside shopping centers and malls and the theme, surprisingly enough, is ramen. The most famous one is probably the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum, actually that one is more like a real museum than a theme park, however it's a commercial enterprise like all the rest to be sure. I will cover Ramen Theme Parks more thoroughly in a future post, today I am going to cover only one of the shops, Ore To Kappa, at one of the theme parks in near-central Tokyo. The theme park is called Ramen Square NY, located on the third floor of the AreArea 2 building about two minutes walk south of JR Tachikawa Station.

At about 3 PM on a rainy Saturday I stepped off the escalator into the Ramen Square NY. It was actually quite empty for that time of day on the weekend, which seems odd to me. The Ramen Square has been around for a while but Ore To Kappa (a colloquial '"me" and Kappa') was a relatively recent addition to it (April). They have quite a large selection of items as you can see from the link to their menu below. There were also several other items including side dishes, drinks and desserts on the ticket machine, which do not appear on that printed menu. I had the tsukemen niku mashi (つけ麺肉増し), a generous concoction of three good-sized plates: a quite spicy miso shiru with a few moyashis in it, a generous helping of noodles, and a separate dish for the miso-flavored pork chunks and a raw egg. The miso was very spicy and if you don't like that level of spiciness then you might want to get something else. The men were decent and were a rectangular thick cut like some Ramen Jiro shops. The pork was well-flavored and did not have too much fat but it was also a bit dry, and they put a raw egg on the plate next to it, presumably to dip the meat in (however the meat was just above room temperature when it got to me though). All in all a decent bowl. I hope to post more about the Ramen Square NY in Tachikawa and other ramen theme parks in the future.

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This web blog is for people who a) live in Tokyo, or are planning to visit Tokyo, b) love ramen, and c) do not read enough Japanese to be able to understand Japanese ramen web sites. This web site is only about Tokyo ramen, and it will give you all the information you need to enjoy ramen in Tokyo. If it doesn't have anything to do with ramen, it's not on this site. Enjoy!